-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- President Obama and former Vice President Dick Cheney offered competing views on how to keep America safe in back-to-back speeches Thursday .

President Obama says he is trying to clean up `` a mess '' left behind by the Bush administration .

Obama said his administration is trying to clean up `` a mess '' left behind by the Bush administration . He defended his plan to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba , his ban on torture , the release of Bush-era interrogation memos and his objection to the release of prisoner photos .

Cheney stood up for the Bush administration 's security record , arguing that Obama has weakened the country 's ability to combat al Qaeda and other extremists . He defended the use of enhanced interrogation techniques as a success that changed thousands of lives . He called the release of the Bush-era memos a reckless distraction and belittled Obama 's decision to close Guantanamo `` with little deliberation and no plan . ''

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid 's spokesman wrote off Cheney 's address as something more beneficial to Democrats than Republicans .

`` He is such a wildly unpopular figure trying to defend such discredited policies that Democrats would like to be able to find a way to pay him to give more of these kinds of speeches , '' Jim Manley said .

In the past two months , the former vice president has become a frequent critic of the new administration in numerous national media interviews .

But House Minority Leader John Boehner said Cheney 's voice boosts his party 's cause .

`` Listen , Dick Cheney has been around this town for the last 35 years -- 40 years . He knows how this town works , and frankly , he 's very knowledgeable when it comes to the strategies that the administration took with regard to dealing with this terrorist threat . And having him out there , outlining those strategies and why we 're engaged in this , I think , is helpful to the debate , '' Boehner said .

Republicans were quick to side with Cheney on Obama 's plan to close Guantanamo , with Rep. Lamar Smith charging that the president should `` put Americans ' safety ahead of an image problem he himself created by making a campaign promise to close Gitmo . ''

`` The administration asserts that transferring terrorists from a detention facility on an isolated island to a prison inside the U.S. will make Americans safer . The administration 's claims are completely contrary to common sense . By the president 's logic , we should close all other jails and prisons , too , '' Smith , R-Texas , said in a statement .

Obama 's plans to close the detention center have been met with opposition from both sides of the aisle in Congress . Following in the steps of House Democrats , Senate Democrats on Tuesday rejected the administration 's request for $ 80 million to close the facility .

They instead asked that Obama first submit a plan spelling out what the administration will do with the prisoners when it closes the prison .

Both chambers of Congress also passed similar measures that would prevent the detainees from being transferred to the United States . Obama on Thursday pledged not to release any Guantanamo Bay detainees who threaten the United States .

He also pointed out that no one has ever escaped from a federal `` supermax '' prison .

Rep. Doug Lamborn , R-Colorado , whose district houses a supermax prison , adamantly does not want detainees brought to that prison .

`` The president did not say where people would go who were convicted under military tribunals or who are to be released by courts or who are in the ` too dangerous to release ' category , so his plan today really has a lot of gaps in it , '' he said .

And Michael Steele , the chairman of the Republican National Committee , said it would be `` dangerous , naive and a threat to America 's national security '' to put detainees on U.S. soil .

But Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said he thinks the U.S. can safely house terror detainees . Watch Durbin 's suggestions on how to handle the detainees ''

`` The president is right in saying Guantanamo is more than a detention facility . It 's become a symbol . And sadly , it 's become an organizing tool around the world for terrorism . The sooner that we bring Guantanamo to a close , the better , '' he said .

Rep. Mike Pence , chairman of the House Republican Conference , accused the president of continuing to `` to bow to world opinion '' when it comes to Guantanamo .

`` Let me say emphatically : Mr. President , public safety comes before public relations . The American people do n't want to know how closing Guantanamo Bay will make us more popular , they want to know how closing Guantanamo Bay will make us safer , '' he said .

House Republican Whip Eric Cantor said closing the prison is `` too complex an issue to rush to resolution . ''

`` At the end of the day , when it comes to terrorism , no detail is too small , and we must have only one priority : the safety and security of the American people , '' he said .

Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy , chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee , said `` political rhetoric has entirely drowned out reason and reality '' in the debate over where to put the detainees .

`` Our criminal justice system handles extremely dangerous criminals , and more than a few terrorists , and it does so safely and effectively . We try very dangerous people in our courts and hold very dangerous people in our jails in Vermont and throughout the country . We have the best justice system in the world , '' he said .

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi praised Obama 's address as `` a sensible , balanced approach to the treatment of detainees and to the handling of state secrets . ''

One decision that pleased some conservatives was Obama 's move to restart former President Bush 's military commissions .

Former Navy lawyer Charles Swift , who won a landmark Supreme Court ruling that knocked down the Bush administration 's system of military commissions , said U.S. laws already cover the `` vast majority '' of cases the Obama administration will face .

`` The previous administration sought ways around the law , '' he said . `` This president seeks to follow the law and keep us safe , and he believes in the long haul -- as do I -- that following the law and following our values in conjunction with holding terrorists is absolutely essential to both winning the war and being safe . ''

Swift said Cheney 's defense of waterboarding `` mystifies me . ''

`` I want to ascribe to people the best of motives , and I presume that the former vice president believes for whatever reason that force is the only thing that works , '' he said . `` Unfortunately , that goes against all of the evidence . ''

As far as former President Bush 's thoughts on the dueling speeches , he did n't watch them .

A source close to Bush said the former president was traveling at the time , en route to New Mexico , where he is the keynote speaker Thursday night at a fundraising dinner for a scholarship program for students at Artesia High School .

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Reid says Cheney 's speech helps Democrats ; Boehner says Cheney helps GOP

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Republicans slam Obama 's plan to close Guantanamo Bay prison , seek details

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Opinions differ on whether U.S. should house detainees in supermax prisons

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Source : Former President Bush was traveling , missed the back-to-back speeches